Uhm, Mistletoe?
by Rosemont1021
Summary: Formerly Candy Cane Kisses, the stupidest title ever. A short and sweet Holiday Fuffy Fic.  My first venture into Buffyverse. There is nothing terribly original here, mistletoe and pickles...just normal holiday fare.


**Candy Cane Kisses**

Faith was leaning casually against the archway that separated the foyer from the living room. She was lazily sucking on a candy cane, watching the activity in the room with amusement. Kennedy and Willow were on the couch with Xander arguing over the origination of the pickle in the Christmas tree. Faith had never heard of the tradition but she figures she missed a lot of the normal stuff that most kids remember from the holidays. She spent so much time shuffling between relatives that when the holidays rolled around she was usually shuffled to the side. An unwanted guest intruding in the family festivities. She still felt a little out of place, even here.

"You know, I had never heard of a pickle in the Christmas tree until those two had this same argument a few years ago."

Faith hadn't noticed Buffy was standing beside her until she spoke.

"I never heard of it until just now," Faith said.

There was a somewhat awkward silence while Buffy remained standing there. Buffy and Faith had become more comfortable with each other over the last few months but a new tension had developed between them recently.

Faith continued to suck on the candy cane and steal sideways glances at Buffy. For Buffy's part she seemed to be fully absorbed in the pickle argument. Faith happened to look up and catch Kennedy's eyes. Ken was watching them and smirking, then she glance meaningfully above Buffy's head and back at Faith with a raised eyebrow.

Faith looked above Buffy's head and saw the mistletoe hanging from the archway. Now even with Faith's limited holiday experience, she knew full well the tradition behind mistletoe. She caught Kennedy's eye again and smirked right back at her. Buffy must have caught part of this exchange because she was looking between them with suspicion.

"What?" she asked and then followed Kennedy's gaze to the mistletoe above her head.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.

Kennedy just chuckled and now Xander and Willow were watching the scene. Faith decided to play along a little, for fun. Keeping the candy cane in her mouth she stepped up to Buffy and reaching around her waist pulled her close. Buffy made a surprised little yelp but didn't try to pull away as Faith settled against her.

Slowly pulling the candy from her mouth Faith smirked at the slightly shorter blond. "Come on B, you know what we gotta do. Can't break tradition, can we?"

She heard Kennedy chuckling again and expected Buffy to push away from her and the joke would be over. To her complete surprise Buffy leaned forward and captured Faith's lips in a kiss. At first Faith was too stunned to respond to the rather chaste kiss but just as she felt Buffy begin to pull away Faith tightened her hold and released Buffy's lips only long enough to realign them and slide her tongue along Buffy's lower lip. Buffy immediately responded by opening her mouth to slowly draw Faith's tongue inside. Neither girl seemed to remember they had an audience as they deepened their kiss.

There was a girly gasp and then a very English, "Oh, good Lord!" that had the girls pulling quickly apart, although Faith still had her one arm around Buffy's waist. Dawn and Giles were in the foyer coming in from the kitchen and both wore comical looks of shock on their faces.

Buffy groaned and with her face in her hands leaned in to hide her head on Faiths chest. Faith glanced around the room to see matching looks of shock on all the faces in the room, except, of course, Kennedy's smirk.

"Um, Mistletoe," Faith said stupidly, pointing at it with her candy cane.

Giles was rubbing his glasses and shaking his head, muttering something that sounded like "ridiculous traditions" and "always trying his patience." Dawn hadn't moved and was still looking between Buffy and Faith with wide eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye Faith saw Willow leap up from the couch and move toward them.

"Buffy!" She said sharply.

"Candy cane!" Buffy blurted as she jumped away from Faith. "…uh, what?"

Looking around the room for the first time, Buffy's face was on fire when she settled on Willow, now standing in front of her. Faith was easing back towards her place in the archway when Willow shot her a look that made her freeze mid step.

Willow wore a knowing expression as she wagged a finger between the two slayers.

"How long?" She asked, continuing her finger wag.

"What?" Faith really had no idea what she was asking but if it was possible, Buffy had just gone redder.

"_That_," Willow said, "was clearly not the first time, I can tell. So spill. How long?"

"Oh, Good Lord." Giles had apparently seen and heard enough as he trudged back to the kitchen.

"Red, what are you talking about? 'Cause, uh, Mistletoe." Faith gestured again at the stupid little twig. Denial seemed the way to go, Faith thought, especially given the look of mortification on Buffy's face. Even as it stung a little she felt the need to protect her from further embarrassment.

Willow didn't deign to acknowledge the remark as she turned to her best friend wearing her patented resolve face.

"Buffy? Come on, what's going on? You and Faith...I thought you two had been acting weird lately."

So maybe not as discreet as they had been trying for.

There was a kind of pathetic squeak as, apparently, Buffy attempted to speak.

Faith took a protective step closer to Buffy and turned to Willow.

"Red," she said softly, "why don't you let this drop for now and you can talk to Buffy privately about what you assume is going on later. Okay?"

Willow looked at Faith a bit surprised and then look over Buffy's shoulder at Dawn standing there watching them with her eyes narrowed. Willow glanced back at Buffy and nodded.

"Later," was all she said as went back to sit next to Kennedy on the couch.

Buffy gave Faith a look that kinda said _thank you_ and _oh fuck_ at the same time. Faith just shrugged and resumed her casual pose in the archway as if nothing at all out of the ordinary had happened. Of course, on the inside she was freaking out. Maybe on the outside a little too, she realized, as the candy cane in her clutch had been reduced to crumbles inside the wrapper.

This thing between her and B was new, just a few weeks new, and Buffy had been adamant to the point of terrified that no one should know. Faith had been totally on board with that, also worried how the gang would respond. It wasn't until recently, the last few days really, that it had started to chafe a bit. She'd said something to B last night but her response had been the same old. She needed more time. Faith had just sighed and shrugged, then resumed the interrupted make-out session.

She was just absolutely sure that B would blame her for this fiasco. Faith really was just playing along with the joke and wouldn't have followed through, B was the one that had kissed her! As she was shoring up her defenses for the inevitable argument, a beer floated into her line of sight.

"Hey Lehane, you seem a little lost in your thoughts."

Faith accepted the beer from Kennedy trying for an unaffected smirk.

"Thanks."

"Sure," Kennedy said.

Kennedy was cool, they got along well. Faith didn't really know how to have a friend but supposed Ken was the closest thing she had to one. But then again, Faith didn't know how to have any kind of healthy relationship. She glanced over at Buffy who was talking quietly with Dawn. Things seemed to be changing.

"Don't worry," Kennedy said, "Will just doesn't like to be caught off guard. And you _totally_ caught her off guard."

Ken chuckled and then took a swig of her beer.

"I'm not worried," Faith said. "Nothin' to be worried about."

She took a long pull from her own beer.

"Hmm," Kennedy said. "Let me rephrase. You should be a little worried, just not entirely freaked out."

"What the Fuck is that supposed to mean?" Faith couldn't help but sound a little irritated.

"I mean, Willow is not going to let you off the hook, she's relentless." Kennedy smiled fondly over at her girl. "She will find out what she wants to find out, and there is definitely something to find out."

Ken's grin was irritating as fuck and Faith was rethinking this whole friend thing.

Holding her palms up in a placating way as Faith scowled at her, Kennedy continued.

"However, Buffy may surprise you."

"Ken, I don't know what the fuck you're...no, never mind, just leave me alone."

"Okay, Okay, but trust me," Kennedy leaned in close and lowered her voice, "that girl is so in to you, you have nothing to worry about."

Faith, dumbfounded by Kennedy's remark, couldn't respond. She glanced quickly at Buffy again only to find her looking back. For the first time Faith thought this might not turn out all bad. She had a fleeting fantasy of a real and lasting relationship with B and all her friends' and family's approval. Before she could stop herself, she was smiling at Buffy, who smiled back and blushed prettily before quickly looking away.

Faith did something then she would never have allowed herself to do in the past. She let herself hope. Things definitely seemed to be changing.


End file.
